Verellen Meatsmoke Preamp Review

While there are several stellar and very practical solid-state or digital modeling
amp options on the market these days,
there’s still nothing quite like the robust
sound and dynamic response that a good
bassist and a great tube amp can produce
together. And for players who revel in that
type of tube-driven glory, the 300-watt
Verellen Meatsmoke head is one of the
most compelling new bass amps to come
along in the last couple of years.

Unfortunately, at $2,500, the Meatsmoke
also commands a price as hefty as its tone—a price that puts it out of reach for most
budget-conscious players. But with the recently released Meatsmoke pedal, Verellen has essentially taken the amp's entire preamp circuit and packed it into a stomp-able enclosure. That beefy Meatsmoke tone—from brawny, glassy cleans to articulate
grind to savagely overdriven roar—can now
be had for well under a grand.

Where There’s Smoke …
The Meatsmoke is built of thick, industrial-grade
steel and Baltic-birch side panels, and
that’s a good thing, because there’s a pair of
JJ 12AX7 preamp tubes to protect in there.
At more than 10" wide, the Meatsmoke
takes up more space than most effects, so
be prepared to shove a few stomps on your
pedalboard out of the way to make room.

The Meatsmoke’s top panel features a
3-band EQ, controls for gain and master
volume, and a pair of footswitches—one
for engaging the boost and a true-bypass
one for the preamp. Around back, there’s
also a ground-lift switch, a high/low toggle
for setting the level of the non-filtered 1/4"
output jack—low for use in front of an
amp, or high for use with a power amp or
in an amp’s effects return—and a dedicated
1/4" line-level output with speaker simulation.
Personally, I would have preferred
to see the latter as a balanced XLR jack to avoid hum and signal-degradation issues.

Slow-Roasted Tone
I tested the Meatsmoke with a Fender
American Jazz bass, a Gallien-Krueger
400RB head, and an Ampeg SVT-410HLF
cabinet. I started by setting the output
switch to low and routing the signal
through the G-K’s main input. This configuration
delivered an instantly noticeable
difference in the midrange and lows, with
deliciously pummeling clean tones and
a warm, dynamic response that’s rare to
encounter when tubes aren’t part of the
equation. And I could shape the tone in
ways well beyond what the amp’s controls
could do on their own.

The Meatsmoke’s EQ has a huge range,
and even slight adjustments make a big
difference. I didn’t need to stray too far
from 12 o’clock settings to dial in a wide
array of rock, jazz, and blues tones. Pushing
midrange to about 1 o’clock gave the G-K
a raunchy, punchy sound, and inching the
bass knob higher expanded the amp’s lows
considerably. However, the Meatsmoke’s
treble voicing was less pronounced, so if I
wanted a brighter, snappier tone—say, one
more apt for slapping and popping—I had
to go beyond 2 o’clock to get there.

Because the Meatsmoke is capable of
delivering a lot of output—even with the
output switch set to low—I had to be careful with volume and gain settings. Too
much caused the G-K to fart out rather
easily, especially under heavy attack. And
sometimes when I engaged the boost—
which delivers a huge jump in volume
that’s, unfortunately, not adjustable—the
amp had an even harder time discerning the
lows from the mids, resulting in a garbled,
muddy overdrive. Coincidentally, and by
popular request, Verellen has announced
that next-generation Meatsmoke pedals will
feature independent, footswitchable channels
for normal and boost, each with its
own gain, EQ, and volume settings.

As nice as the Meatsmoke’s tones were
running through the amp’s input, the
results were nothing short of amazing when
I ran it through the effects return. Suddenly
there were incredible details and harmonics
in the rich, deep clean tones, and overdrive
sounded gargantuan—with endlessly sustaining
low end and sweet midrange when I
engaged the gain boost.

I A/B’d this rig with a full-sized
Meatsmoke amp and—other than the
added presence and detail in the lows and
highs from the Meatsmoke amp’s set of
6550 power tubes—the two setups sounded
strikingly similar. The response was somewhat
quicker through the solid-state G-K,
but the overall tone was definitely in the
same ballpark.

While the Meatsmoke pedal is designed
primarily for bass, it provides great tones for
guitar, too. Its EQ boosted a Gibson Les Paul
Custom’s midrange and low end exceptionally
well, and added a cool, gravelly texture
to the highs. The Gibson’s hotter Tom
Anderson pickups didn’t push the gain in the
same grinding way as the Jazz bass, but they
did yield a thick, glassy overdrive reminiscent
of an old Sunn Model T or a Hiwatt.

The Verdict
With the Meatsmoke preamp, Verellen
Amplification has managed to stuff most of the
best traits of its beastly bigger brother into a
tough, compact package. It works very well as
a tone-shaping front-end tool, but really shows
off its abilities when used as a preamp paired
with a separate power amp. The only real bummer
is that the boost circuit would be more
practical with a dedicated gain control, but
with Verellen’s next incarnation of the pedal,
that should no longer be a gripe. The price
is rather steep, but when you consider how
similar its tones are to those from the stellar,
all-tube Meatsmoke head, it feels a little more
reasonable. All in all, pound for pound, it’s an
excellent tool for rock and metal players.

A native of the Pacific Northwest, Jordan grew up traveling the country as the son of theater technical directors and speech instructors. His exposure to the performing arts early on helped foster his love for music and attention to detail, and upon receiving his first guitar at age 15, he became hooked. Jordan brings a considerable background of gear knowledge and tech experience to Premier Guitar, and has contributed an extensive amount of articles, artist interviews and Rig Rundown videos since late 2008. He lives in the Iowa City area, where he also works to bring music education initiatives to both local and regional communities.

Stay Connected

Get the PG Apps

On PremierGuitar.com, "Sponsored Content" refers to articles, videos, or audio recordings that are produced or curated by an advertiser but that Premier Guitar is happy to share alongside our own editorial content due to the Sponsored Content’s educational, musical, or entertainment value. Sponsored Content is clearly labeled everywhere it appears, and Premier Guitar's editorial department has no involvement in its creation.